Using Video Analysis or Data loggers During Practical Work in First Year Physics

Information communication technologies are rapidly finding a niche in practical work in science laboratories in both schools and tertiary institutions. This paper reports on a project investigating students' learning processes when video analysis and data logging practical work were used in a first-year undergraduate physics course. Student volunteers were group interviewed. Preliminary findings suggest that students were motivated by the tasks and perceived that the tasks helped them understand their physics concepts. The manual movement of the cart and the freeze-frame element of the video analysis were viewed positively by the students. Further analysis indicates that students used elements of the video analysis and data logging practical work to reinforce already existing ideas rather than challenge the robustness of their existing ideas.     

An investigation on the effects of using interactive digital video in a physics classroom on student learning and attitudes

Interactive digital video provides students with control of computer visualization techniques and allows them to collect, analyze, and model two-dimensional motion data. Activities that use these techniques were developed for students to investigate the concept of frames of reference in various real-life situations. This investigation examines the effect on student learning and attitudes of using these materials in an introductory college physics course. The study measured students' computer attitudes and found improvement in students' feelings of comfort in using computers after completion of the activities. We found students' prior computer experience did not influence their perceptions of the activities. The majority of participants perceived discussion and the computer visualization techniques as being very effective in helping them learn, Students' understanding of the physics concepts were assessed and the participants' scores were compared with nonparticipants' scores. Although analysis of variance statistical procedures revealed no significant differences between the two groups, the results of this study indicate that sophisticated instructional video software can be perceived as easy to use and effective by students who are novices and experts in using computers. Thus, interactive digital video tools and activities have the potential to provide physics teachers with the latest technology to bring the active process of learning physics to their classroom. © 1997 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. J Res Sci Teach 34: 467–489, 1997.     

Effect of language of instruction on physics achievement

This study investigated the relationship between physics achievement and language of instruction in a situation where instruction was in the second language of both students and teachers. One hundred and seventy-six grade ten physics students (first language was Chinese) were selected from four classes of two secondary schools in Hong Kong. For three months (with four lessons per week), two classes of students learned the content material (light and sound) in Chinese and two classes learned the material in English. Group differences were controlled by using individual aptitude scores as covariates in the analysis. There were no differences in achievement, students' motivation, and effort spent in physics in that controlled teaching period. This was probably because the Anglo-Chinese group was sufficiently proficient in English so they did not encounter additional difficulty in learning physics when compared with the Chinese group.     

A SURVEY OF PSYCHOLOGICAL,MOTIVATIONAL, FAMILY AND PERCEPTIONS OF PHYSICS EDUCATION FACTORS THAT EXPLAIN 15-YEAR-OLD STUDENTS’ ASPIRATIONS TO STUDY PHYSICS IN POST-COMPULSORY ENGLISH SCHOOLS

This paper investigates the factors that influence 15-year-old students’ intentions to study physics post-16, when it is no longer compulsory. The analysis is based on the year 10 (age, 15 years) responses of 5,034 students from 137 England schools as learners of physics during the academic year 2008–2009. Factor analyses uncovered a range of physics-specific constructs, 7 of which were statistically significantly associated with intention to study physics post-16 in our final multi-level model; in descending order of effect size, these are extrinsic material gain motivation, intrinsic value of physics, home support for achievement in physics, emotional response to physics lessons, perceptions of physics lessons, physics self-concept and advice-pressure to study physics. A further analysis using individual items from the survey rather than constructs (aggregates of items) supported the finding that extrinsic motivation in physics was the most important factor associated with intended participation. In addition, this item-level analysis indicated that, within the advice-pressure to study physics construct, the encouragement individual students receive from their teachers is the key factor that encourages them to intend to continue with physics post-16.     

经管类学生高等数学学习现状调查研究——以河北北方学院为例

高等数学是高校经济管理类专业的必修课程,由于经济管理类专业文理兼收,学生对数学的兴趣、知识背景、数学基础差异很大,造成学生在学习高等数学时存在一定困难。通过调查问卷和学生代表座谈的方式,对河北北方学院经济管理类专业学生学习高等数学的感兴趣程度、重视程度进行统计、分析,针对学生学习中存在的问题,提出改革教学内容,突出经济应用;改变教学模式;培养学生良好的学习习惯等对策。     

A Sociological Case Study on Urban Adolescents in Different Neighborhoods of Ankara - Turkey

In this quantitative study, urban adolescents' sociodemographic and personal characteristics and their political views about problems at a variety of levels were examined. The main purpose of this research was to contribute to adolescent and youth sociology in Turkey by exploring the relationships between urban adolescents' demographic information and their knowledge and attitudes about world, country, city, and neighborhood problems. After a pilot study, the main study was carried out with 248 students from 4 primary schools in Ankara. A brief questionnaire was administered to selected schools. The results of statistical analyses show that students who live in different neighborhoods are not homogeneous within their socioeconomical background. The mothers' education and working status are the most important variables and they have impact on urban adolescent knowledge about Ankara as a city as well as neighborhood level problems.     

Factors affecting 12th-grade students' physics achievement

The current study aimed to determine and predict 12th-grade students' physics achievement in terms of some selected cognitive, physics-related effective, personal, and socioeconomic characteristics in Turkey. Four hundred and ninety-six students (273 female and 223 male) from 18 high schools formed the study group. Findings indicated that cognitive characteristics including science achievement and physics course grades explained the largest amount of variance (60.6%) in the achievement by itself. Physics interest and physics motivation as well as gender and perception of teacher-directed activities also explained a small amount of variance in student achievement. Although none of the socioeconomic characteristic variables were found to be significant, the entire model accounted for 64% of the variance in physics achievement.     

University physics students' use of models in explanations of phenomena involving interaction between metals and electromagnetic radiation

We examine third year university physics students' use of models when explaining familiar phenomena involving interaction between metals and electromagnetic radiation. A range of scientific models are available to explain these phenomena. However, explanations of these phenomena tend not to be used as exemplars of scientific models within undergraduate physics education. The student sample is drawn from six universities in UK and Sweden. These students have difficulties in providing appropriate explanations for the phenomena. Many students draw upon the Bohr model of isolated atoms when explaining light emission of metals. The students tend not to recognize that atoms in metals interact to give an electronic structure very different from that of the isolated atom. Few students use a single model consistently in their explanations of these related phenomena. Rather, students' use of models is sensitive to the context in which each phenomenon is presented to them.     

Teacher/pupil perspectives on computer-augmented physics lessons on measurement in kenyan secondary schools

The application of computers in Kenya is relatively uncommon, and the facilities and stage of professional and organisational development in Kenya appear to reflect this. This article describes the views of a group of pupils and their teacher regarding the impact of a computer-based instruction (CBI) programme that involved the collaborative learning of a physics course on measurement. Three secondary schools and a total of 118 pupils were studied in three classrooms, one class acting as a comparison. The same teacher taught the same physics content to all three classes using one of two teaching methods, namely: (1) the traditional mode and (2) the CBI mode. Selected students and their teacher were observed and interviewed. The qualitative data analysis methods of comparison and clustering were used to identify pattern and themes within the interview data. Results of the study indicate significant improvements in pupils' learning of physics as well as in the development of positive effects and/or socialisation skills. Accounts by the teacher, as well as those by the students, indicate a perception of the potential of CBI to enhance their learning of measurement concepts and methods. For instance, the study revealed that, apart from its positive influence on the pupils' classroom interaction patterns, the pupils in the treatment groups learned the concepts and methods better than their counterparts in the true control group. Furthermore, the experience influenced the teacher's belief about teaching using CBI to augment physics instruction.     

Attitudes towards Physics

Unlike in many other countries, physics in secondary education in Scotland is highly popular, with large numbers opting for study at the Higher Grade from which entry to higher education is possible. This paper reports a project which explored attitudes towards physics in Scotland, looking at students aged from about 10 to 20 years old. Overall, over 850 school pupils were surveyed along with 208 level 1 and 2 university physics students. The work was carried out mainly by use of questionnaires and interviewing. The approach allowed the development of 'snap shots' of attitudes held by pupils simultaneously at various stages of education. These attitudes can be compared at the different stages, although care must be taken in such comparison to allow for varying degrees of self-selection. The main factors attracting school pupils into a study of physics are described, together with the pattern of attitude changes which take place with age. From the picture obtained, it is possible to determine areas of the curriculum where there are difficulties. The enormous success of the applications-led course for Standard Grade is apparent in attracting and retaining pupils within physics, including girls. The outcomes suggest some ways by which physics curriculum planners can develop courses in physics which will prove attractive and robust.     

Predicting the choice of physics in secondary education

Against a background of disappointing percentages of students choosing exact and technical studies and the academic choice research tradition, a study into the choice of physics in secondary education has been carried out. It focuses on the predictive value of certain characteristics of the curriculum, the differences between schools and the stability of the choice variable. Two cohorts of students in a representative sample of schools filled in written questionnaires, four times in two years. The data were analysed in several ways that complemented each other, including multilevel analysis. The main predictor of the choice of physics in secondary education is perceived future relevance and no significant differences between schools exist. The choice variable is not stable. Many students feel uncertain about their choice of study and profession. Academic choice processes should be more connected with career choice processes. Certain characteristics of the physics curriculum can be expected to further the possibilities for students to experience physics and physics-like contents and problems as being personally meaningful and interesting.     

Factors influencing the take-up of physics within second-level education in Ireland—the teachers’ perspective

There has been a disturbing decline in the take-up of physics within second-level education in Ireland since the early nineties. Here, an analysis is presented of the main factors influencing the take-up of physics from the perspective of secondary school teachers. The database underpinning the analysis is based on a comprehensive survey of teacher opinion in Irish schools conducted in December 2004. The sample included all such schools in Ireland and was directed at school principals, senior cycle physics teachers, and junior cycle science teachers. The data reveal that most senior cycle physics teachers in Ireland do not possess a ‘physics-dominated’ primary degree, are dissatisfied with the technical back-up available to them and their students, consider that many of their students lack the basic mathematical skills needed for physics, believe their students are not adequately informed about career opportunities in physics, and feel students are disadvantaged in regard to grade points in the leaving certificate examination compared with most other subjects. These findings echo those of a previous report by the Government Task Force on the Physical Sciences and lend renewed urgency to the necessity of implementing a comprehensive action programme to reverse the decline in physics take-up before it impacts negatively on the Irish economy.     

课改背景下农村中小学校长的新思维

农村中小学在新课改的进程中面临诸多问题,其解决的关键在校长。在新课改背景下农村中小学校长应具有新思维,即清晰的发展战略观、正确的教育资源观、客观的学生观,以推动新课改实践在农村地区的深入与发展。     

Physics students' epistemologies and views about knowing and learning

Classrooms are complex environments in which curriculum, students, and teachers interact. In recent years a number of studies have investigated the effect of teachers' epistemologies on the classroom environment, yet little is known about students' epistemologies and how these interact with those of teachers. The purpose of this study was to document students' epistemologies and their concurrent views about knowing and learning. Using a written essay, short-answer responses to statements, a preferred classroom environment inventory, and interviews, students' views on scientific knowledge and their own knowing and learning were collected from 42 students in three sections of an introductory physics course. Our rather broad, qualitative inquiry provides a dynamic view of students' understanding of knowing and learning in high school physics. Our analyses reveal a spectrum of epistemological commitments commensurable with positions from objectivism to relativism, most of them with experientialist coloring. Even within individuals, these commitments could be at once commensurable and incommensurable with the same epistemological position. We also find rather significant inter- and intra-individual differences with respect to the consequences of a specific epistemological stance to learning, the learning strategies employed, and the learning environment preferred. Students' views on knowing and learning in physics are presented in the form of an emergent theory. The findings are discussed in terms of their application to classroom environments.     

The impact of the pre-instructional cognitive profile on learning gain and final exam of physics courses: a case study

The case study described in this paper investigates the relationship among some pre-instructional knowledge, the learning gain and the final physics performance of computing engineering students in the introductory physics course. The results of the entrance engineering test (EET) have been used as a measurement of reading comprehension, logic and mathematics skills and basic physics knowledge of a sample of 47 Computing Engineering freshmen at the University of Palermo (Italy). These data give a significant picture of the initial knowledge status of a student choosing engineering studies. The students' physics learning gain has been calculated using a standardized tool in mechanics: the force concept inventory (FCI). The analysis shows that mathematical and physical background contribute to achieve a good final preparation in physics courses of engineering faculties; however the students' learning gain in physics is independent of students' initial level of mathematics skills and physics knowledge. Initial logic skills and reading comprehension abilities are not significant factors for the learning physics gain and the performance on physics courses.     

The Effect of a History-Based Course in Optics on Students' Views about Science

In light of the convincing claims extolling the multifaceted merit of the “genetic” (historical) approach in designing learning materials (Matthews 1994), we developed an experimental course in optics. We tested the new materials and determined their effectiveness in a year long course given in several 10th grade high school classes. A special feature, which soundly contrasted our course from a typical one, was its essential incorporation of historical contents: the ideas, views and conceptions which constituted the early understanding of light and vision. In this report, we present that part of the assessment which concerns the course's impact on the students’ views about science and some related technological and cultural issues. In our analysis, we used a special hierarchical organization to represent pertinent data. Strong differences were found between the views elicited in the experimental group and parallel data regarding students in the control group. In our view, this demonstrated the advantage of utilizing historical materials in an aspect which is additional to our first intention – to improve students’ disciplinary knowledge. Such materials naturally address issues of much broader general interest, appropriate for physics education as opposed to physics training. Touching on a variety of features of science the materialspositively effect students’ views about science.     

An analysis of the role of peers in supporting female students’ choices in science subjects

This exploratory study investigated the role and importance of peers in providing personal and academic support for Year 11 female students, enrolled in physics and biology. While these areas of support had been identified in earlier research by Holland and Eisenhart (1981), this study attempted to investigate further their importance within an Australian context. Questionnaires, completed by one hundred female students, were analysed using Principal Components Analysis and MANOVA. The statistical analysis found no significant differences between the six relevant factors and science subjects, however, significant differences emerged in relation to schools and particular factors. Subsequently, six interviews were conducted with selected students to elaborate upon the statistical differences that emerged from these results. The interviews corroborated the findings of the quantitative analysis and provided explanations for these differences. Overall, the results of this study suggest that while the supportive role provided by peers is similar regardless of the science subject undertaken by a female student this role varies between schools.     

Correlates of student stress in secondary education

Background

Educational differentiation, or the allocation of students to different types of school or different locations within schools, is a common feature of modern education systems. In most countries, student outcomes vary considerably, both by school and academic location within schools.

Purpose

The purpose is to ascertain the extent that between- and within-school differences in student performance can be attributed to students' socio-economic background and their home resources.

Sample

The samples are from the OECD's 2000 Program for International Student Assessment (PISA) study of 15-year-old students' performance in reading, mathematics and science. Data from 30 countries were analysed. The student samples ranged between 2500 (USA) and 30,000 (Canada) students. The samples are representative of the populations of 15-year-old school students in each country.

Design and methods

Multiple regression analysis was used to ascertain the extent to which between-school differences (measured by intra-class correlations) and within-school differences (measured by the effects of the composite variable ‘academic location’ which comprised grade and school programme) declined when taking into consideration students' socio-economic background and home environment.

Results

In most countries the intra-class correlations and the effects of academic location declined only marginally. This was especially the case in countries with large between-school differences such as the tracked systems of continental Europe.

Conclusions

Differences in student performance between and within schools cannot be accounted for by socio-economic background. The study lends some support to the official rational for tracking and other forms of educational differentiation, that the allocation of students to different school types and academic locations within schools is largely based on student ability.